Mountaineers rock Huskies again

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published 8:00 pm, Friday, October 31, 2008

Husky fans were left wondering whether their battered car will ever have the steam to overtake the Big East's frontrunners.

Jock Sanders scored three touchdowns in a five-minute span of the third quarter, taking advantage of consecutive UConn turnovers, as West Virginia walked away with a 35-13 victory before a surprisingly vocal crowd of 40,000 at Rentschler Field.

With seven minutes to play in the third quarter the Huskies led 13-7.

With one minute left in the quarter they trailed 28-13.

"There's not a big margin of error when you play a team like West Virginia," said UConn coach Randy Edsall, whose team fell to 0-5 against the Mountaineers.

After taking a six-point lead at halftime UConn's errors came in bunches. They helped the Mountaineers (6-2, 3-0) score 28 unanswered points and seize control of the Big East race.

UConn (6-3, 2-2) committed a total of five turnovers and gained just 72 total yards in the second half. The Huskies also saw their 11-game win streak at home come to an end.

Ahead by those six points UConn appeared to be in good shape to go ahead by two scores as the second half began. UConn wide receiver Kashif Moore found himself all alone behind the West Virginia defense after a good play-action fake by quarterback Cody Endres. But Moore dropped the ball near the 10-yard line.

"I should have caught that ball," Moore said. "But like coach (Rob) Ambrose says 'What did we do next?'"

Next? It got much worse.

An illegal procedure penalty came next, followed by a failed third down conversion and a punt.

"Those aren't confidence builders, I'll tell you that," Edsall said.

West Virginia took its first lead with its second possession of the third quarter, advancing deep into UConn territory on a pretty play action pass from Pat White to Dorrell Jalloh. White found Sanders five plays later with a six-yard pass that put the Mountaineers ahead 14-13.

Immediately following the score Endres made the first major mistake of his short UConn career, overthrowing D.J. Hernandez with a second-down pass and hitting West Virginia's Brandon Hogan square in the numbers. That led to a three-yard Sanders run that made it 21-13 West Virginia.

As if things weren't out of hand already, two painful plays sealed the Huskies' fate. Darius Butler, the Huskies do-everything cornerback and wide receiver, hurt his left knee on the ensuing kickoff. And three plays after that Brown fumbled, leading to Sanders' third consecutive touchdown.

A Mortty Ivy interception with 5:34 left in the game ended all hopes of a miracle comeback by the Huskies.

Endres, making his second career start, threw three interceptions total and finished 17-of-37 for 166 yards. The redshirt freshman was victimized by at least six drops, including Moore's.

"He got a little flustered there at the end," Edsall said. "But he has to step into the ball. He's throwing off his back foot; that's why the ball's going high."

Although they were up six, the Huskies could have been further ahead at the half. UConn had three scoring drives, twice settling for field goals, and had another potential score thwarted by a Hernandez fumble.

Using a new defensive lineup designed to add speed to the unit, UConn held West Virginia to 111 total yards in the first half. West Virginia made only one foray into UConn territory in the opening half, scoring a touchdown on a 24-yard scramble by White.

But White and his offense were much sharper after the break. He rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns in the game, while throwing for 121 yards and another score.

"He's a great player. He's made a lot of great plays against a lot of people," Edsall said. "That's why you have to be sound. But you have to be aggressive, too. Don't wait for him. A couple times we did and when you wait for him, he's going to make you miss."